


the one with the storm and all the texting

by Apalapucian



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coffee Shops, Jily Modern AU, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, Modern Marauders (Harry Potter), gideon/benjy!!, james is a barista this time, jily au, sirius owns a coffee shop... again bec apparently that's a thing in my fics now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 16:36:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16044326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apalapucian/pseuds/Apalapucian
Summary: jamesget one of those bento meals that’s good for 2 with beef, chicken, and pork in itorange chicken not karaage btwum, buy the fish thingy toonot the cakesthe fillet/nuggety ones?ala cartecharge it to sirius tell him he owes me his liferemus??????????are you ok?this feast smells like more than just work stressjameslily’s here with meremus…..should we come over at all?stuck at a coffee shop alone during a storm nicehavent you fantasized about this out loud oncejamesidki think i might be dyingremuslike, the good kind orjamesnobadit sucksit’s hellish sort of actually





	the one with the storm and all the texting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [snapslikethis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snapslikethis/gifts).



> hello this is another one from the [prompts list](http://apalapucian.tumblr.com/post/178141001505/send-me-a-pairing-and-a-number-and-ill-write-you) i reblogged the other day on [my blog](http://apalapucian.tumblr.com/). [linds](http://snapslikethis.tumblr.com/) sent me numbers 17 or 23, which were "looks like we're going to be trapped here for a while" and "just once". i included both! it was supposed to be short, but... well. tada! here it is linds i hope you like it! leave kudos/comments if i made you smile at least once, ok? happy reading! xx

so here's the thing. he's not disappointed. _really_. it's just weird.

she got here at around 2 PM, and she hasn't said a word to him since. it's been two hours. at first he just thought it's because she's not sitting at the counter as usual — she is, actually, at the table nearest to the door, which is in itself already a rare occurrence — but he's passed by her exactly three times by now and she wouldn't even look up to meet his eye.

he's not saying she's _required_ to say something to him, it's just the last couple times she was around they had really fun conversations. friendly. they haven't exchanged numbers, but they've made each other laugh. she complimented his outfit under the apron once. and, well, james thought — he just thought by now he sure must be more than just _the guy who serves me coffee at chuckskates_ or similar _._ he's more than just _whatshisface gardener or something like that, i dunno._ you know? (that wasn't from his head by the way. whatshisface gardener. that's something someone said about him for real, someone he thought he was getting along with, too. peter, who was the one who heard it, felt it relevant to relay it to james. it wasn't. relevant, that is. james could've lived not ever knowing. he didn't talk to peter for two weeks, even though he _knew_ peter didn't really have anything to do with it. even though he knew peter sometimes could just be a tactless idiot.)

anyway, the point is that evidently, lily evans, journ major from the uni nearby, orders iced americanos or hot chai lattes depending on the weather, ice-blended strawberries and cream when she's particularly stressed, laughs the way james imagines the sun smiles or the grass giggles or some other lame sappy alliteration like that — suddenly just realized james isn't worth her time anymore. maybe she's busy? she seems to have notebooks out on her table right now, reading and taking notes. but james knows for a fact that midterm week just ended — he _would_ know, they all barely survived it — and even _then_ , when she was drowning in her readings and papers, she had time to at least smile at him. ask him what he thought about shit, how he was... god, he's _not_ going to dwell on this. he's _not._ he's not disappointed, he's just — it's just _weird._ like he said. so what if they're not friends? he couldn't care less. but he cares that, like, what if someone told her something bad about him, so now she's avoiding him because he's bad news? or — what if something serious is going on with her currently? such drastic behavioral change must have been spurred by _something._ and he's concerned about _that._

sirius asks for a refill at the end of the counter, and james snaps out of it.

"what are you sulking about?" he asks james, eyes still on his current agatha christie. it must be his third this week.

"i'm not sulking."

sirius dogears the page he's on, closes the book, puts it down. he stares at james over the rim of his mug as he sips his fresh round. "look, maybe she's just busy."

james takes sirius's book and reads the blurb. (or pretends to.) "she's always busy."

sirius puts the mug down with a thud. "so you _were_ sulking about her."

james rolls his eyes. opens the book, turns to a random page, doesn't say anything.

"want me to talk to her?"

"what the fuck about?"

"hey. respect your elders. watch your language."

"you're only four months older, wanker."

"this is why the guy at the kebab shop hates you, james. you are scandalously impolite. it's not too late to change your ways."

"mr. black, your most ancient and noble grace, i just want you to know that i dropped your last order of cheesecake in the sink because i was, as you so very astutely observed, distracted by things, but i picked it back up and served you it anyway."

"you're fired."

"thank god."

"you're welcome."

"you are such a breath of fresh air from all the intelligent conversations i have with customers all day."

"i expect a customized 'employer of the year' mug on my desk by the end of this week."

james glares at him. sirius never loses a glaring match though, so james just makes do with drinking from sirius's mug without his permission and without breaking eye contact. a lame alternative. sirius is not fazed in the slightest.

"i can go talk to her though, for real," says sirius. "ask her shit."

"what the fuck about though. for real."

"i'm going to ask her why she's not in love with you yet."

james takes the mug again, drinks the entire thing, ignoring the instant burn on his tongue. he smacks sirius with the book and shoves his arms off the counter. "get out. you're banned. forever."

"i literally own this place," says sirius, laughing. but he _does_ go, because he was already late for a thing two refills ago. "hey, don't lose my place," he adds, pertaining to the dogeared page of the book, before he pulls the glass door close.

james unfolds the damn page corner in petty spite before putting the book back on the shelf.

 

 —

 

people start coming in more densely than usual around 5 PM, and they don't order coffee. james frowns a bit in puzzlement as he punches in the sixth set of orders that's from the deli side of the menu, most of them to-go. _all_ of them to-go. that doesn't happen often. he looks around the shop, and it's only lily and two other students staying around now.

it's when james goes outside to clear a terrace table that he remembers, as he looks up at the sky absently, that there's a storm hitting tonight. dark, swirling, grey clouds have already taken their place overhead, and the wind chimes are just constantly tinkling in the breeze now. thunder rumbles as if theatrically on cue as he makes his way back inside. james reckons he should close earlier.

it's not really the storm that's the problem. it's _a_ problem, sure, but the city's been through way worse storms than this one. it's the traffic that people dread more. this avenue gets flooded easily, and it's the only way to and from two bustling points of the city, so a storm that's not strong enough to warrant class and work suspensions could potentially stretch a half-hour drive into eight. he knows. he's been there. it was maddening.

james turns the sign on the door to show _closed._ he goes to the nearest table to ask if they have any last orders, and remembers halfway there that ' _they_ ' _,_ today, means lily fucking evans. not like he can turn back now. she's already noticed.

james does a pathetic wave as a 'hello', then asks, "do you have any last orders?"

"you're closing already?" she seems startled.

"um, yeah. storm and all. it'll be harder to get home later for all of us."

"oh. right. yeah." she doesn't look away, so james waits for something else, but she — it ends there. she doesn't say anything else. she's just sort of staring at him, still with furrowed brows. almost like she's trying to figure something out.

"so, um," he presses, when enough time has passed to border on awkward, "do you need a refill or a salad to-go, or — ?"

that seems to shake her out from the reverie she was in. she _literally_ shakes her head and blinks slowly. then she manages a smile. manages, james thinks, because it's not the full-fledged one. and then it gets james thinking about just how _bad_ it is that he can already tell managed from full-fledged. why is he like this? "no, thank you," lily says. "i'm okay."

"right." he walks away, annoyed that he's annoyed, because _why._ they're not friends. they never were. and she was perfectly polite just now. that's literally how everyone answers the same damn question. what on earth does james want? what did he think would happen exactly?

he asks the person at the other table (a regular of the shop, a poli-sci major named gideon) if he has any last orders or if he needs to use the restroom, informing him that the bar closes in twenty minutes but that he can stay around for another forty-five if he wished, yada yada. gideon leans his chair back and yells at the last remaning customer, "yo, benjy, are you ordering anything else? they're closing."

the other one, benjy, checks their watch. "don't you usually close at midnight?" they ask james.

"we do. i have to close early because of the storm today though. sorry."

"oh, shit, yeah." they pause. "nah, we're — good? gid?"

gideon nods.

benjy smiles. "pack your shit then. traffic's gonna be hell. best we go."

"gotcha." gideon starts packing.

"you guys together?" james asks gideon, just to shift his mind elsewhere.

gideon nearly drops his laptop. "i'm _sorry_?"

"i mean, you came here together. you and — "

"benjy. oh. yes." he averts his eyes. "yeah. he has a motorcycle."

"oh, cool. you're gonna get home just fine then."

"yeah."

"can i ask why you're at separate tables?"

gideon's smile is sheepish. "we get distracted together. we don't finish anything."

"i see." james doesn't miss the glance gideon throws benjy just then, and it's a testament to just how _fond_ the look was that james noticed it even when gideon tried to do it discreetly. plus there's the way he almost dropped his laptop. "is he nice?" james asks.

"um. yeah. he is."

"you look cute together," james says, hoping he's not overstepping or anything. gideon looks taken aback for a moment, but then he smiles, a hint of blush on his cheeks. "you should ask him out," james dares, encouraged.

"i — thanks." gideon stands up, pats james's shoulder (rather awkwardly) in gratitude.

"you guys want something for the road?"

"on the house?" asks benjy, coming up to them now.

james snorts. "'course not."

they laugh. "then no, thanks."

five minutes later, it's just james and lily in the shop, and it starts to rain.

 

 —

 

"hey."

lily turns. she's outside now, two whole panes away from the door, pressing herself firmly against the tall glass windows of the shop. she's hugging her backpack and squinting against the downpour. she's already half-drenched by the spray of the rain, the strong winds rendering the coffee shop awning useless as shelter.

(she didn't say goodbye. she lingered by the door, on her way out — just stood there holding the handle for a good five seconds — and james watched her from the counter, shamelessly fantasizing about her thinking about talking to him, remembering that, oh, hey, the barista here was actually nice to talk to, that's this coffee shop, why didn't i stop to chat with him today? but it was most probably just her assessing the storm before going out, thinking about how she's going to get home and whatnot. james, as per usual, was most probably just a hopeless moron. most _definitely_ just a hopeless moron. eventually she just went out without saying anything. she didn't even glance back.)

"hi," she replies, swiping a wiry strand of hair from her nose.

"you can come inside, you're getting soaked over there."

"oh, no, it's — it's okay. my sister's coming to get me."

james considers for a moment. then, "okay."

he closes the door. except it hasn't even closed entirely — not even _halfway —_ when he pulls it open again, pokes his head out. "you can wait inside. you should. i insist. i might as well be leaving you out in the storm otherwise."

lily bites her lip. she's clearly hesitating. it breaks james's heart a little, this sudden aversion to him and his presence, though he'd probably take getting stuck in traffic for two weeks over admitting it to anyone. "i'm okay, thank you," she says stubbornly, but it sounds way weaker now.

"your bag doesn't seem water-proof."

"what?"

"you're going to get your laptop wet. do you know how much decent laptops cost these days? repairs?"

thankfully, lily is sensible enough to find the truth in that.

she follows him inside, but james hears the sigh before she does, and he really wishes the rain had been stronger to have drowned it.

 

—

 

 **james**  
where r u rn?

 **remus**  
burger king, you want anything?

 **james**  
i might be staying the night here. i'd rather sleep in the pantry i'm not getting stuck in traffic for 8 hrs again

 **remus**  
we can come get you/bring dinner/stay the night there too

 **james**  
oh ur with sirius?

 **remus**  
yep. he picked me up from uni  
pete went home earlier this afternoon so he's fine  
you want anything? we're leaving soon

 **james**  
orange chicken

 **remus**  
BURGER KING james  
whcih you probably purposely ignored  
you're really gonna make us go to another place aren't you

 **james**  
work was extra stressful today i need it please  
i DESERVE it

 **remus**  
fine  
just orange chicken??

 **james**  
hang on one sec

 **remus**  
right well we're leaving just text me what you want i'll look when we're there

 

 

"evans," james calls out to lily, who has again chosen to sit by the door. "my mates are buying dinner to bring here, do you want anything?"

"i'm okay. thank you."

"it's no trouble, seriously. your sister might be a while. the traffic's already bad outside."

"how're your mates getting here then?"

"motorbike."

"oh." she looks pained. james has, at some point, maybe dreamed of getting stuck somewhere with lily evans in a fucking storm, but this — sucks. just straight-up _sucks_. "no, i'm good," she says. "i had that cinnamon roll not a while ago. thank you, though."

"'kay," he says.

 _fuck it_ , he thinks.

 

 

 **james**  
get one of those bento meals that's good for 2 with beef, chicken, and pork in it  
orange chicken not karaage btw  
um, buy the fish thingy too  
not the cakes  
the fillet/nuggety ones?  
ala carte  
charge it to sirius tell him he owes me his life

 

 

after a while (james picked sirius's book up from the shelf and pretended to read, while lily took out a notebook from her bag and wrote), remus and sirius presumably reach the asian place they frequent during weekends, and james's phone dings again.

 

 

 **remus**  
??????????  
are you ok?  
this feast smells like more than just work stress

 **james**  
lily's here with me

 **remus**  
.....should we come over at all?  
stuck at a coffee shop alone during a storm nice  
havent you fantasized about this out loud once

 **james**  
idk  
i think i might be dying

 **remus**  
like, the good kind or

 **james**  
no  
bad  
it sucks  
it's hellish sort of actually

 **remus**  
is she possessed

 **james**  
um what

 **remus**  
by a demon  
thsi is sirius  
remus went to order

 **james**  
why would she be fucking possessed by a demon what

 **remus**  
that's the only way i imagine this scenario to be """hellish"""  
an actual demon  
otherwise wtf r u on about

 **james**  
she hates me :(

 **remus**  
pft  
pls?  
quit acting like ur 12 prongs she clearly likes u  
just shag already  
NOT IN MY SHOP I WIL L QUITE LITERALLY FLAY YOUR ASS

 **james**  
no she really does hate me i think  
i think i may have done something  
or said something?  
or someone said somehting about me  
god wAIT  
oh my GOD do u think she saw those videos on youtube from marlene's party 2 years ago somehow  
i mean fuck that would explain things??  
anyways she still hasnt talked to me since u left and she's been here for eternity

 **remus**  
that can't be true  
the hating u bit  
i was there last last time she was and she told u ur sweater was nice  
it wasn't even nice tbqfh

 **james**  
thanks

 **remus  
** not even a little nice

 **james  
** THANKS!!!!

 **remus**  
but yeah the vids......  
rip :(

 **james**  
:(((((((( fuck 

 

 —

 

it's lame, but james uses the excuse of having to clean the windows to go over to her. he's just thinking about how he's going to start a conversation without seeming like he desperately wants to have a conversation, when _she_ speaks first. james is so surprised he fucking actually drops his wiping cloth and doesn't understand what she says. just that she talked. she said something.

"sorry, what?" he says as he straightens up. fucking loser.

she chuckles. (manages to.) "i said, looks like we'll be trapped here for a while."

"oh, yeah, yeah..." he starts reaching up the glass, wiping nonexistent grime. rainwater from beyond the awning lashes against the shop relentlessly. the scenery outside makes the window seem like it's stained-glass, black and green, instead of transparent. james can barely make the outline of trees swaying in the dark, lightning lancing through them occasionally. "is your sister close?"

"not even remotely," she sighs. "i'm pretty sure she just told me she's coming, but she's really not."

james frowns at her, his hand dropping a few feet, slowing down.

"she didn't specify a when," lily explains. "just that she's coming."

"she'd do that?"

she shrugs. "she's done it before. more than once. i've learned not to expect."

"that's _awful._ "

"i know."

james bites the inside of his cheek in thought. "so why were you adamant to wait outside? if you knew she wasn't coming?"

she knows what he's asking. he can tell. he waits for _because i can't stand being in the same room with you_ and braces himself, but lily just says, "i thought i could just wait it out."

"wow." he tries not to pour _all_ of the sardonicism into it. some make it in anyway, but what can he do. he's bitter and far from a saint. "a prudent course of action."

she catches it, of course. she goes quiet. looks down on her notes. she starts writing again, but when james turns to look, she's just scribbling shapeless lines around an empty page.

"sorry," he says. he's bitter, and far from a saint, but he also doesn't like to be an asshole as much as possible. he's been there. god was he a little shit. "i'm — " he doesn't know what. "sorry."

"it's okay," she says. "i understand."

she understands. she _does._ which means — "so you _have_ been ignoring me on purpose."

she takes a deep breath. "yeah. i guess i have."

james doesn't want to ask why. he shouldn't. he doesn't care. he's not disappointed. it's just weird. a normal, unaffected person who has no crush or any investment whatsoever in an apparently nonexistent relationship won't ask... "can i ask why?"

she thinks about it. james has dropped all pretense of cleaning the windows now. he leans against the glass and crosses his arms as lily opens her mouth, closes it again, purses her lips. just when she tries once more, james's phone rings.

he sighs before he answers. "what," he says, not meaning to take it out on sirius.

"huh," says sirius, and james can _hear_ the one eyebrow he just raised just with the single syllable.

"sorry. hi. what is it? you okay?"

"it's really not going well, huh?"

james walks away, towards the counter, not risking lily hearing any of it. he goes behind the till and leans against the edge, turns his back on the shop. "it's whatever."

"hm. well, we're okay, just that we might take a while."

"did something happen?"

"oh, no, we're fine. it's just your order might take a while, since it's a lot. they're still importing beef from new zealand for your misono as we speak."

james rolls his eyes.

sirius _heard_ that too, even if james didn't say anything, because he says, "geez, just trying to do something about the damp situation here."

"no one says _damp situation_."

"that's me. i'm no one."

"i'm hanging up."

"hey."

james brings the phone back up to his ear.

"just ask her about it," sirius says, all jest gone.

"yeah, yeah — "

"i'm serious."

james feels the laugh bubble up before he can stop it. "i know."

"oh, fuck off. i mean — really. she likes you. i swear. something must have happened, yeah, but i'm also positive it's something you can fix. but you have to know what it is first."

"you swear?"

"i swear what?"

"that she likes me."

"you are five, prongs, and i don't know what to do with your idiotic ass most times, but yes, i swear."

"the jumper was that bad, huh?"

"yes. it had a cat flipping people off and off-white is an ugly color for a jumper. it's like — is it ancient? is it unwashed? is it fucking cursed? no, it's just like that, and it's ugly."

james feels infinitely better. "you're the worst pep-talker in history."

"you're welcome. bye."

"bye."

when he turns around, lily is right in front of him, perched on the counter seat. her usual seat. it feels so natural to see her there that he's startled by this less than before.

"hello," she says.

"hi." he grips his phone by his side a little too dramatically tight.

"was that sirius?"

"yeah. he says they'll be a while. i ordered too much."

"you ordered for me, too." not a question.

"yeah, i did. it's just rude not to."

"yeah. and you're... not rude. you're nice."

james makes a face at her. "do you want anything? coffee? tea?"

"you didn't want to give gideon and benjy anything on the house. i heard."

"yes, well, they were leaving. you're here now."

"i don't need coffee or tea, thank you," she says. she laces her hands together over the counter and straightens up. "but if i pay, will you make me a strawberries and cream ice-blended right now?"

james pretends to deliberate on it, jutting his lower lip out and narrowing his eyes, but he's decided before the question was even finished that yes, even if she didn't pay, he would make her the damn drink.

 

 —

 

he's almost done with it when she asks, "whose is the motorbike? you mentioned a motorbike."

"sirius's," says james. he puts the glass down in front of her, fetches a straw.

"damn." that doesn't make sense. that reaction. that she's here and suddenly talking to him also doesn't make sense.

"i hate to nag, but why wouldn't you suddenly talk to me?" asks james. he gets rid of the straw's paper sheath as an excuse not to look at her as he asks, because looking at her right now feels a bit like losing. "you can't just shift like that. i feel like i'm forcing you to do something you don't want to do. just because you're stuck here doesn't mean you have to talk to me. if — if you don't want to."

"you bought me dinner," says lily, which is so not helpful at all.

"that wasn't a bribe, evans."

"i know." she takes a sip of her drink, plays with the straw between her teeth. "you're awfully nice like that."

 _what_. "awfully?"

"yeah. you don't leave people out in the rain and you make them their stress-drinks even when you're closed already and you — you encourage strangers to go for the love of their lives." she bobs the straw in and out of her drink for a bit, and then, "and i'm so stupidly attracted to you."

james's brain freezes, even though _she's_ the one with the ice-blended drink. he processes that for a few seconds, makes sure he heard it right. lily lets him. james takes a deep breath and pats his cheeks awake. "just once," he mutters.

"what?" asks lily, her fingers still fiddling with her straw.

" _just once,_ you know, i would like to know what the _hell_ is going on with my own bloody life."

lily laughs.

"why the hell — i did hear that correctly, right? you said — you just said — _that's_ what you said, right?"

"yeah." she's finding something to be amused with in james's reaction at least.

"then why doesn't it make any sense to me?"

"i came here to say goodbye today, but i couldn't. then i thought i'd just — never come back." she looks around the shop. "shame. it's honestly the best one i've been to."

"why?"

"well, you've got good coffee, it's near campus, and the barista's kind of cute."

james swallows. "i meant — why goodbye," he clears, but he has a feeling lily got that right off the bat.

"because i like you." she swirls her straw around her drink twice. the rain seems to get stronger. "i _like..._ like you."

"i, um." james's face feels very hot, and he quells the urge to take her drink and press the cold glass against his face. "no offense? but you sound like a really insane person right now."

she laughs again, and either james detects hints of melancholy around the edges of it, or he's being presumptuous. for once, though, he leans more towards the former. he _does_ know _managed_ from _full-fledged,_ after all. "well, it's just _sensible,_ isn't it?" she answers. "to avoid breaking your own heart if you can?"

james is looking at her with a ridiculous amount of incredulity now that it's probably funny to anyone who might have been watching. " _what?"_

"you have a really wonderful boyfriend," says lily. "it's such a shame that i found you after you've already found him. well, a shame for me. but you... you seem perfect together. really."

james wants to scream. he stares at lily, trying to calm his guts down.

there's silence save for the storm outside and the ticking of the wall clock out back for a relatively long stretch of time.

"james."

"one sec."

"it's been like — two minutes."

"okay." he still doesn't say anything. after three more seconds, he says, "first of all, _what the fuck?"_

lily actually leans back at his vehemence, wide-eyed and mouth slightly open in surprise. "um, sorry?"

"boyfriend — _what?_ i wasn't aware i had a boyfriend."

"you — " lily's eyes go even wider, if possible, then she bites her lip and just blinks at james. "you, um. you don't have a boyfriend."

james shakes his head. "not currently, no."

"right." pause. " _right._ " another pause. "right, right, right..."

"evans — "

"girlfriend?"

" _no._ "

"i — a partner? a significant other? a person?"

"do i — what? do i have a _person_?"

"well — well, yeah! some people call it that. they have a _person_. do you have a person?"

"i don't have a _person_ , lily," says james resolutely. "i don't have a partner, or a significant other, or a horse. i don't have any of those."

"holy... okay. _okay._ "

"do _you_ need a moment?"

james needs one, too. it's dawning on him what it means, what it all means, what the _fuck_ just happened and what is, in fact, going on in his own bloody life right now.

lily likes him.

lily evans _like_ likes him.

lily evans _like_ likes him back.

she came to say goodbye today, but she couldn't. she hasn't been talking to him suddenly because she realized the last time she was here that she _like_ likes him, and talking to him meant breaking her own heart, because talking to someone who has a boyfriend — a person, a significant other — is breaking your own heart, and it's just _sensible_ to avoid that kind of torture if you can. which — makes sense. now it does. lily evans _is_ sensible. but also — she was going to not ever come back here because she didn't want to keep being attracted to someone she _thought_ was already taken, and she — that was also decidedly _not_ sensible. god. okay. _okay._ it's cool. he just has to clear it up, and then it's — then they could — _maybe —_

"who did you think my person was?" asks james.

"sirius."

" _what._ "

"last time — the last time i was here? you left your phone here when your other friend asked for table napkins, when he spilled his tea — "

"peter."

"yes. peter. you went to him, and you left your phone here, and i swear i didn't mean to read, but it lit up and your eyes just automatically move to things that suddenly light up in your periphery, right? and it was so close and i just _saw —_ "

"oh, god." oh, _shit._

"you had his name saved as — um." _don't say it,_ james thinks. he crouches down, elbows on the counter, covers his face with his hands. he knows what sirius's name was saved as in his phone last week, and why the _fuck_ did james even let that drag for one second? _oh my god._ "you had it saved as 'master'?" lily continues, and someone might as well announce james's time of death right about now. "and i asked later who you were texting and you said it was sirius, and i was like. oh. okay. and it was fine? at the time. i was like, _right_. i mean, you could see people. we were... i don't know. we weren't anything. you could... you know, call people 'master' and whatnot."

"it was — " he chokes on his own spit. he wants to climb up the counter and lie down on it. "it was a stupid fucking prank. he meant, like, he owns this shop, and because i work here, and he changes his contact name in everyone's phones all the fucking time, i don't know how he manages to correctly guess all our passcodes every time, it's like he has _telepathy —_ "

lily laughs. it's still stilted, but it's with less melancholy now. "james, the text said, _your pecs look way better in the maroon one._ and you're always bantering here — "

"he literally _fired_ me today, evans, what the hell — "

"everyone has their own brand of flirting? i see you drink from the same mug sometimes, and you're not bad to look at together either."

 _god, this cannot be happening. it can_ not _have happened. ever. why._ "it's — _listen_ , that text — i was asking him which sweater would look better, because you complimented me in the cat one and i wanted to be consistent, so i sent him photos, and i — would there be any point in me explaining? at all? because i _swear —_ "

"no, it's... fine. i just... oh my _god —_ " and then it breaks, all of it, and she's just laughing so hard, so loudly, giggling all over the place, almost toppling her drink in her mirth. james gets it out of the way, feeling her laughter tug at him, a nice contrast to the storm and the boiling heat in his cheeks. (she laughs and laughs and it's how james imagines the sun smiles and the grass giggles and some other lame sappy alliteration shit like that.) "i can't _believe_ this," she says. james watches her and is fully aware of his heart yearning, alive, and he thinks, _yeah_ , _same_.

"just — for the record?" he says, when she's relatively calmed down. "sirius is not my boyfriend."

"i got that now."

"and you're — i like _you._ i — god. i like you a lot, lily. it's scary how much. it should scare you. i'm sorry."

"i think i can handle it." she smiles up at him, remnants of her laughter lighting up her eyes, her cheeks, the tip of her nose. james wants to kiss all of it. all of her. "he seemed like a — like a _wall,_ " she says. "sirius black. no — like the _colossal titan_. you can't compete with someone like that. he's _perfect_. he, like — first of all, he has the audacity to look like _that,_ and just casually reads mystery novels over his black coffee, wears leather jackets, and i _learn,_ tonight, that he rides a fucking motorcycle. _and_ he owns this place."

james raises an eyebrow. "i'm _sorry_ , it just sounded so horribly like you fancy _him,_ not me."

lily simply grins, takes his hand, laces her fingers with his. james's heart jumps to his throat. "look, trust me, _all that_ , and all i could think of was how big of a competition that was, how i'd never win over someone like that to be with you. that's it. it's so stupid now, but all i thought about was how lucky he was that he snagged you first. it sucked big time, let me tell you. i like you. want you. _just_ you. hundred per cent."

by this point it is already a struggle for james to form words. "excuse you," he says, his voice cracking because the universe just loves him like that. he clears his throat and tries again. "i am my own person, and i am snagged by no one."

"objection." she smirks and leans closer, pushing the drink even further aside. "i quite like to think i snagged you. just now."

"oh, did you now?"

"yep."

lily evans's eyes, this close, are like stained-glass windows, green and gold.

her lips taste like strawberries and storms.

 

 —

 

she calls petunia later, when they've both caught their breaths, informing her that she's staying over at a friend's. james didn't mean to eavesdrop, but her sister talks quite loudly, so he hears anyway.

"is it your boyfriend?"

lily is facing the other way, but james hears the grin in her response: "i don't know. he could be."

 

 —

 

remus and sirius arrive not long after the call too, and they notice the difference between lily and james at once.

sirius drops the takeaway paperbags on the communal table and raises a deliberately intimidating eyebrow at lily. he says, "this your girlfriend or something, prongs?"

lily slurps her drink, or what's left of it now, and narrows her eyes at sirius. james can tell she's trying not to laugh though. he can't blame her. it's still funny. the _whole thing's_ still fucking hilarious. it's going to be for a while, he thinks.

james shrugs, his smile embarrassingly ear-splitting and giddy. "i don't know. she could be."

he seeks lily's gaze, and she meets his. she smiles back.


End file.
